


Waking Up

by Jade_Snow3181



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Baggage, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Rough Kissing, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Spoilers, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 16:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19727875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Snow3181/pseuds/Jade_Snow3181
Summary: SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON 3!!!!How strange is it that we went from beating the crap out of each other to this?





	Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON 3!!
> 
> It starts in Billy's point of view. My take on what should have happened at the end of season 3! Hope you enjoy!

Though my eyes are open I can't think of why; my heart is pounding, mind empty. It's as if a hypodermic of adrenaline has been emptied into my carotid. I strain into the utter darkness, breathing rate way too high. My body shot up, hands instinctively going to my chest, I can feel the blood, moving inside the rip I feel my chest, no wound. I look down, squinting, the blood on my shirt is still there but no wounds, even my sides are healed, 

"What the fuck?"I croak, my throat raw, 

I move to stand as a sharp pain rips through my torso. Hissing in pain I grit my teeth forcing myself to stand, 

"GAHH!!"I yell, 

Finally stood, I wobble on my feet forcing my breath in then back out. The pain subsides slightly, enough to look around, I flinch and stumble back, the creature is on the floor, non-moving. The mall is destroyed, I feel sick to my stomach. Red and blue lights flash from outside and I can hear talking. I trudged along the tiled floor at a sedate pace, my mind focused on the gentle footsteps that seemed to echo through my skull, I need to get outside. I need to..find, someone. Anger burned within me as flashes of what I did rang through me, tears burned my eyes pushing my anger more, willing my feet to move faster. I shoved the door open at the entrance of the mall and the paramedics turned and looked at me in shock. My breath shallow I kept walking, looking for anyone I knew. I scanned the crowd of paramedics, soldiers and police. I could feel the pounding of my heart against my ribcage and the burning in my chest. 

Squinting I could see the back of a man's head, that hair. I know him- 

"S-Steve.."I cry pathetically, "St-teve"

As I get closer my legs wobble and it gets harder to breathe. Finally, he turns as I get to him, 

"Billy?!"

My mouth opens but no words come out as my knees buckle and my eyes become hooded, 

"Billy!"

I feel his arms around me as I collapse against his chest, my eyes open a little more and I look up at him as he lowers to the ground and I lay in his lap my head rested against his arm. One of his hand rested on my torso the other on my cheek, 

"Billy, look at me, c'mon stay awake"

He shakes my head but his words become quiet. My eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up. Everything became fuzzy; then I saw nothing at all. My consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. The pain that once burned like a fire had faded away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of my vision and the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat. My breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. Seconds passed as I lay there, then, I heard voices. People swarmed all over me, trying to help me, I realized. They wanted to save me. If I could have, I would have laughed. Surely they could tell that it was far too late for me to be saved, yet they were like children, naive to the darkness of the real world. The despair and suffering of the world that took everyone I loved away from me. I would be joining them soon though. I would be able to leave all the pain behind. I closed my eyes, I could die happy now.

**Steve's POV**

His eyes glazed over until his eyelids closed softly. I barely knew him, all we did was fight yet this hurt, the pain in my heart. I screamed. Screamed for help, for a paramedic. Tears burned my eyes as I shook him and squeezed him, 

"BILLY!!"I cried, 

I looked around and saw 3 paramedics running to me but I also saw Max, her mouth open and she started running towards me, 

"No Max!!"I looked to the closest paramedic, "Don't let her see him, stop her!"

They swiftly turned and pulled Max away, she screamed and fought against them as tears streamed from her eyes. Looking back down at the boy in my arms his breathing was shallow but still alive. It all became a blur as the paramedics pulled Billy from my lap and into an ambulance. I remember asking if I would come too and I nodded. The ride to the hospital seemed to take too long as they gave him CPR and tried to wake him. His white shirt was covered in blood and ripped where the Mind Flayer had ripped into him. I thought he was dead, I saw him die. My heart was in my ears as they rushed him away. The waiting room seats were cold and hard. I sat there staring at the white floor for hours, I wasn't sure how long but I was numb. We lost Hopper El is broken along with the rest of the kids and Joyce. I'm terrified to think about what is going to happen next. More time passes until a voice snaps me out of the haze, 

"Mr Harrington?"

My head flicks up and a nurse is stood there, 

"He's stable, would you like to see him?"

Slowly I nod and it takes me a while to get to my feet and follow her through a maze of corridors and doors. Finally, we get there and she lets me in, I can hear the beeping of the machines. Billy is laying there his face beaten and bruised but his body is more healed than it should of. No signs of what the Mind Flayer did to him in the last moments of the fight. Pulling a chair beside him I placed my hand on top of his and finally breathed. 

I sat beside him for days. The days turned into weeks and then months. 8 months exactly. He hadn't woken or moved. But his body was healing, he looked weak still..in his face his skin had sunken into his cheeks and his muscles were deteriorating. I started to drift off, my head resting on the bed beside him. 

Something woke me, my eyes peeled open and I looked around. Then I heard it, the monitor, his heart rate was going mad and he was shaking badly. My head finally shot up fully and I placed a hand on his arm, 

"Billy! Billy! You're okay, you're safe!"

"GO AWAY!!!"He screamed,

he jolted up, eyes wide open. I jumped back looking at him. In the grip of silent panic, wild eyes, pupils dilated, heart racing, brain on fire, brain synapses firing like a hyped up internal aurora borealis, like a cluster bomb exploding in his brain, turned his brain to a mental soup of conflicting instructions, brain frozen, brain feeling like it's seized up, shrill scream, running aimlessly, frozen in panic, arms flapping almost comically, almost threw up, brain feeling like it's been pickled in brine,

"Billy.."I whispered, 

His head snapped to the side to look at me, his chest heaving up and down, 

"You're safe.."

"where is it."He growls, voice cracking, 

I stepped closer but stopped when I saw him tense, "It's gone, we killed it.."

"it's dead?"

"yeah..it's dead, you're okay," I say, cautiously lifting my hands up, 

What I saw next shocked me and caused a horrible shiver to run down my spine. Billy's lip wobbles slightly as tears fell from his eyes. He slumped down and I could hear the sobs. Carefully I walked to him, he didn't flinch, 

"Billy..it's okay, it's just me"

I carefully place my arms around him and he falls into them, gripping the back of my shirt as he cried. I said nothing just held him until he calmed, I wasn't going to force him to do anything, just let him rest against my chest, 

"I did so many bad things.. I hurt them..tortured them..and the kids.."He croaked, 

"hey...Billy..it's okay now..none of that was your fault..it wasn't you, you were being controlled."

Then he shoved me back, teeth gritted, eyes red and puffy. 

"but it wasn't always there I still had some control. I could have shouted for help or stopped. but I didn't did I?!"He screamed,

"That's what the Mind Flayer does, it makes you think you have control when you don't-"

"How would you know Harrington?! Huh?! It was in me, not you!"He spat, 

"Billy-"

"Don't! get out! I don't need your pity!"

"But-"

"GET. OUT!"He screamed, 

Ordinarily, I would, but I could see the tears in his eyes are still there and the fear, he's shaking. Walking over to him his face falters, I place my hand on his shoulder and he looks down at it, 

"Shout and scream at me all you want, if that's what helps if that makes the pain go. I know you're scared and angry and hurt and that's why I'm here to be your friend and help you even when all this is over."

He blinks at me for a moment, "why..? why are you being so nice to me, I was an asshole to you"

"because I used to be an asshole and I know what that guilt feels like and you don't deserve any of this."

His lip trembles so he bites it and looks down, 

"Thank you..I'm sorry for everything..I'm sorry for shouting at you.."

Placing a finger under his chin I lift his head to look at me, 

"You have no reason to apologise, I understand"I smile, 

He stares at me, and reaches a shaky hand up, I smile reassuringly. Billy's hand touches my face slowly and gently, but then firmly cups my cheek. My hand slips down to rest on his thigh, he leans forward then stops, 

"It's okay" I breathe, careful not to shatter the moment and startle him, 

He nods and pulls me forward pressing a light peck on my lips. It's soft and quick, but I felt it none the less. When I pull away his eyes are still closed, he's shaking. I hesitantly looked up at him. The swirls of emotion I saw there made me gasp. Lust and desire. However, before I could ponder about it further, he yanked me to him and covered my mouth with his in a hungry kiss. As our lips crushed together, I felt like I was walking on air. It was magic, the way his lips connected with mine. His mouth was so warm, the caress of his lips softer than I could have imagined and I opened my mouth with a low moan. 

"Stay.."He mumbled against my lips, 

"I'm not going anywhere"

He pulls away but wraps his arms around me, burying his face into my neck. I press a quick kiss to his forehead and pull him in tight, 

"I never thought I could have something like this.."He whispers, 

"It can always be like this.. if you want that..if you want me.."

He looks up at me once more, a soft smile playing on his lips, "I do"

Capturing his lips he sighs happily and falls gently into my arms, where he's safe. 

How strange is it that we went from beating the crap out of each other to this? 


End file.
